Thread: In love with planes again

Yep, room for a block plane and a few smoothers. Then maybe a shoulder plane....... It's a slippery slope. Enjoy

TT

Block plane is something I think I would have to try before I buy; I think feel in the hand would be particularly important.

Ten years ago I had a 1979 Record no.4 smoother and a Footprint No.5 jack.

Five years ago I had by then added a Chinese 110-ish block, an Anant 45 combination, a 9-1/2 block and a 113 Compass.

One month ago I promised myself to cease this madness when I got to 30 planes; I reached that number a week later with my new Record 43 small plough.

Last night I won a Record 4-1/2 on E-bay and I also have a bid on another Record smoother.... I'll stop when I get to 40, or next month, whichever comes first.

I would just like to point out that the slippery slope may have a touch of parabolic curve to it....

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

......I would just like to point out that the slippery slope may have a touch of parabolic curve to it....

Yes, CT, but a parabola eventually turns the corner and comes back the other way.

I got onto the slope a couple of decades before you. There was a time when I thought I needed at least one (preferably 2 or three, each set up for slightly different conditions), of every plane type that had ever been produced. So many different planes out there, often in quantity, so they must've been essential, right?

Fortunately, perhaps, financial strictures meant I'd only acquired a couple of dozen before I discovered I could live without most of them. Now I have about 10 bench planes, which is still slightly excessive, perhaps, and I could get by without a couple that are more in the 'luxury' than essential class (but I'm not going to ). However, I reckon I had to have the journey to get where I'm at, and discover what I really needed to do the sort of woodworking I do. I think most of us who take the craft/hobby seriously need to experiment & try a few (or a lot of) different planes before settling on our own sets of 'essentials'.

Moral of the story is, plane-acquisition isn't necessarily a life-long affliction, it seems to resolve eventually, unless you fall into the 'collector' hole, which is truly a bottomless pit! . When you do recover from the acute form of the disease, you can have one helluva garage sale....

Cheers,

I agree it is a journey that also depends on what you are making at the time and what other tools you have. I bought a #7 and #8 about the time I made my first door when I only had a 7 1/4" Skil saw to cut timber. The planes and timber cost less at the time than a custom made door to fit my peculiar opening. As I acquired some machinery including a jointer and table saw the larger planes saw less use and the #5 became the go to plane. More recently, for whatever reason, I find myself using a #4 and #41/2 the most.

I still however need to occasionally chant the mantra "I have enough planes,I am not a collector" when poking through 2nd hand shops.

I also got rid of most of my woodies some time ago because they never got used. Something I occasionally regret, but wall space is still at a premium and I'm not tripping over as many boxes of dusty UFOs now.

I had the disease badly and still have too many planes floating around. Most of them are in a state of disrepair. Sometime, I tell myself, I will fettle them and sell them.

One weakness I have is to have different set-ups for using the same plane in different ways - like Ian confessed to above. Many of them I don't need any more, generally because I found that the set-up was not really as important as making sure the blade is really sharp. They are waiting in the departure lounge for me to pretty them up for disposal.

The one excess that I continue to consider not to be too excessive is that I have 3 Record 043s: one for each blade width (1/8", 3/16" and 1/4"). I love that little plane and use it for lots of things, but changing blades is a right PITA - I always seem to lose the funny shaped bit that holds the blade down tight and spend 20 minutes looking for it! Since there are lots of 043s around missing that part, I don';t think I'm alone! I prefer the 043 to the 040 (and the equivalent Carter, Marples, Sharmanco and Davelco knock-offs) because of the dual rods - they hold the fence much better IMHO and the rounded handle between the rods fits nicely in my left palm as I use it, making it much easier to hold the plane vertical with firm registration of the fence.

So for pure convenience, I have three 043s and only have to take a blade out to sharpen it - when I do that I put all the bits of the plane in a plastic ice cream container and don't lose them (I know, I should use that when I change blades, but it is just not a habit I have yet been able to acquire)!

At least you don't have to feed them.

The next hole for you to fall into Nathaniel is finding old rusty planes and restoring them

I have been saying I dont collect planes as I can use all the planes I have. The tally stands at about 30 now so being honest I am kidding myself. Trouble is I like to rescue old tools and get them working again. I even made a couple. There is a downside to having lots of planes and that is to be slack with sharpening as you just reach for another until the sharpening piles up. Guess it's about time for a shed declutter.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by Bendigo Bob

The next hole for you to fall into Nathaniel is finding old rusty planes and restoring them

That is something that interests me, so for the sake of my marriage let's not discuss this further or pique my interest!

When I'm at home next Thursday I'll drag them all out and set them up for a photo shoot.

Actually it will be a good excuse to lay them out and work out positions for a plane cabinet I want to design and build. Hmmm... new thread coming soon I expect.

Originally Posted by jmk89

..... generally because I found that the set-up was not really as important as making sure the blade is really sharp......

My sentiments exactly, Jeremy! Funny how we tend to follow the same paths.....

I have kept two #4s, partly because I couldn't decide which one to pass on. One is a Clifton, which I bought partly on the strength of glowing reviews when they first came out, and partly because I was curious about the 'Bedrock' style frogs & wanted to see if they were all they were cracked up to be & the Clifton was a cheaper than an old Bedrock, at the time. I guess I hav to say it's a good plane, but I hated the two-piece cap iron. Mine was poorly-made & I had to skew the upper part on the blade to have the end parallel with the blade edge. So I made a new, plain old one piece from some nice stainless-steel I happened to have.

My other #4 is just a bog-standard, English Stanley, but for whatever reason, it's a beauty, and works superbly well. I use it for he rougher work and keep the Clifton set up for really fine finish work, but I could just as easily use the Stanley, they are genuinely Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee.

All my other panes now come in singles..

Cheers,

Originally Posted by orraloon

......There is a downside to having lots of planes and that is to be slack with sharpening as you just reach for another until the sharpening piles up....

Yep, John, and that was another reason I 'de-cluttered', as you put it. Being faced with a dozen or more dull planes sort of takes the joy out of the morning, doesn't it?

Cheers,

My Luban is a Bedrock style - and didn't come with instructions! So trying to figure out all the tricks for adjustment,